Senior Backend Software Architect

Position Summary

The Senior Backend Software Architect will drive technical excellence across our organization. This hybrid role combines hands-on software development with high-level system architecture and strategic technical leadership. You will design scalable, resilient systems while writing production-grade code, mentoring engineering teams, and serving as the technical bridge between business objectives and engineering execution. This role possesses deep full-stack expertise, proven experience designing enterprise-grade architecture, and the communication skills to align technical solutions with business goals.

Essential Functions

• Evaluate and select appropriate technologies, frameworks, and infrastructure based on scalability, security, and cost-efficiency requirements
• Create and maintain architectural decision records (ADRs), technical roadmaps, and system design documentation
• Lead the architecture, design, and evolution of backend software systems, ensuring scalability, reliability, security, performance, and long-term maintainability.
• Translate business objectives and technical requirements into architectural designs, implementation roadmaps, integration patterns, technical specifications, and measurable acceptance criteria.
• Define system boundaries, service interfaces, data flows, and architectural standards for distributed systems, APIs, event-driven services, and enterprise integrations.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership through prototyping, development of critical components, code reviews, design reviews, and resolution of complex engineering challenges.
• Establish standards for API design, authentication, authorization, input validation, error handling, versioning, and backward compatibility.
• Design data architectures that support transactional integrity, efficient retrieval, appropriate consistency, data protection, retention, and recovery requirements.
• Incorporate security and privacy requirements throughout the software development lifecycle, including threat modeling, secrets management, encryption, access controls, and dependency management.
• Partner with DevOps, infrastructure, and security teams to establish automated build and deployment pipelines, infrastructure as code, environment controls, and secure release practices.
• Define observability and operational-readiness requirements, including logging, metrics, tracing, alerting, service-level objectives, runbooks, and disaster recovery.
• Collaborate with product management, frontend engineering, quality assurance, data engineering, cybersecurity, and business stakeholders to deliver cohesive solutions.
• Mentor engineers and technical leads, promote consistent engineering practices, and document architectural decisions, standards, and reference designs.
• Support major production incidents with technical investigation, identifying systemic causes, and recommending corrective actions.
• Review proposed exceptions to architectural standards and communicate associated risks, trade-offs, and mitigation plans to leadership.
• Drive innovation initiatives, R&D projects, and emerging technology adoption
• Create, edit and adhere to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), process improvements, and standardization of templates.
• Perform ad-hoc and cross-functional duties and/or projects assigned to support business needs and provide developmental opportunities.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in a computer science field with 10+ years of relevant experience is required.
• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience is required.
• 3+ years of experience in architecture or technical lead capacity is required.
• Experience with microservices architecture, API design (REST, gRPC, GraphQL), and service mesh technologies is preferred.
• Experience with event-driven architecture (Kafka, RabbitMQ, SQS, EventBridge) and stream processing is preferred.
• Previous industry experience in FinTech, Healthcare or SAAS is preferred.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Advanced proficiency designing, developing, and supporting production backend applications, including substantial responsibility for enterprise architecture or senior technical leadership.
• Advanced proficiency in one or more backend programming languages, such as Java, C#, Python, Go, or TypeScript, with the ability to review code and guide implementation.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, concurrency, asynchronous processing, fault tolerance, idempotency, retries, caching, and consistency trade-offs.
• Strong knowledge of architectural approaches, including modular monoliths, microservices, service-oriented architecture, event-driven architecture, and domain-driven design.
• Demonstrated ability to select an appropriate architecture rather than introduce unnecessary complexity.
• Expertise in RESTful APIs and enterprise integration patterns, with familiarity with GraphQL, gRPC, webhooks, and message-based interfaces as applicable.
• Strong knowledge of relational and nonrelational databases, including schema design, indexing, query optimization, transactions, replication, and data migration.
• Experience with message brokers, event-streaming platforms, background processing, and durable workflow orchestration.
• Proficiency with at least one major cloud platform-Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud-and familiarity with hybrid deployment considerations.
• Experience with containers, orchestration, serverless computing, infrastructure as code, source control, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong understanding of secure software design, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, role-based access control, least privilege, and protection of sensitive data.
• Experience implementing automated testing strategies, including unit, integration, contract, end-to-end, performance, and security testing.
• Ability to define and assess availability, latency, throughput, recovery, and capacity requirements and translate them into practical system designs.
• Familiarity with operational monitoring, centralized logging, distributed tracing, incident management, and root-cause analysis.
• Ability to assess technology costs, licensing implications, vendor dependencies, and total cost of ownership.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, documentation, and communication skills, including the ability to explain architectural trade-offs to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to influence without direct authority, mentor engineers, resolve technical disagreements, and maintain alignment across multiple teams.
• Ability to balance delivery commitments with security, reliability, maintainability, and technical-debt priorities.
• Experience working in regulated or security-sensitive environments is preferred.
• Outstanding written & verbal communications skills.
• Outstanding analytical, mathematical, and creative problem-solving skills

Working Environment / Physical Environment

• This position works on-site or remote based on the candidate's geographic location as noted in your offer letter.
• Regular work schedule is Monday - Friday, within standard business hours. Flexibility is available with manager approval.
• Must possess mobility to work in a standard office setting and to use standard office equipment, including a computer.
• Lift and carry materials weighing up to 20 pounds
• This position requires extensive use of computer keyboards and monitors.

ImmunityBio employees are as valuable as the people we serve. We have built a resource of robust benefit offerings to best support the total wellbeing of our team members and their families. Our competitive total rewards benefits package, for eligible employees, include: Medical, Dental and Vision Plan Options • Health and Financial Wellness Programs • Employer Assistance Program (EAP) • Company Paid and Voluntary Life/AD&D, Short-Term and Long-Term Disability • Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts • 401(k) Retirement Plan with Company Match • 529 Education Savings Program • Voluntary Legal Services, Identity Theft Protection, Pet Insurance and Employee Discounts, Rewards and Perks • Paid Time Off (PTO) includes: 11 Holidays • Exempt Employees are eligible for Unlimited PTO • Non-Exempt Employees are eligible for 10 Vacation Days, 56 Hours of Health Pay, 2 Personal Days and 1 Cultural Day • We are committed to providing you with the tools and resources you need to optimize your Health and Wellness.